


Behind A Smiling Picture

by Toaverse



Category: Onward (2020)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Child Abuse, Confrontations, Emotional Hurt, Gen, Kinda..., Physical Abuse, argument
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:08:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22469161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toaverse/pseuds/Toaverse
Summary: The moment where the Lightfoot brothers had waited for had finally came. They where going to meet their father.They didn’t expect a harsh person in him...
Comments: 6
Kudos: 206





	Behind A Smiling Picture

**Author's Note:**

> So, me and a friend of mine once had a conversation where we discussed if dad Lightfoot can turn out to be an asshole or not.
> 
> The trailers say a big “no no!” to that, so I just wrote it down!
> 
> There are some things changed to make the concept more logical:  
> -the recording doesn’t exist.  
> -dad Lightfoot never wrote the letter.  
> -Barley had found the staff with the spell on the attic. Laurel probably never planned on giving it to them on Ian’s birthday.
> 
> I hope I wrote it right...
> 
> Enjoy!

They had finally done it.

After those long, stressful hours of traveling to different places. After chasing a fairy motorcycle gang and the police through van and chasing unicorns through foot. After many, many times of magic practice, and surviving boobytraps to get the phoenix stone they needed, the brothers had finally reached the moment of their quest they where waiting for.

They where about to meet their father.

The phoenix stone was already placed in the staff when Ian re-thinked the words of the spell in his head. The feeling of nervousness took over as he stood in front of the under-half of his father, ready to perform the spell.

“Ready?” Barley asked, who already stood at a safe distance where he couldn’t screw it up again.

Ian took a deep breath, washing a bit of his nervousness away. “Ready.” He said, before saying and preforming the spell.

The spell did its work, and was just as strong as the last time. ‘I gotta hold on.’ Ian thought to himself, as the staff became harder to hold. The three of them had come so far on the quest, they can’t give up now. ‘Just a little longer...’

And before Ian knew it, the spell suddenly stopped its magic...

Both brothers then looked at the succeeding result of the spell. Both almost couldn’t believe what they saw with their own eyes.

Right in front of them, there stood the man who the brothers wanted to meet for over a decade, with top part and all.

Their father...

He looked exactly like in the photo’s that are still home. And he seems to be confused. Maybe even a little panicked?

“D-dad?” Ian tried to started off, but was immediately brushed off.

“Where are we?” The man asked panicked, not caring what his youngest son just asked him.

“We’re quite far from home, but we can explain the whole story to you if you want.” Barley explained, trying to calm his father down.

The formerly dead elve then noticed his old magic staff being there, held by his youngest son. “W-where did you find that?” He asks with a glare, pointing at the staff.

Ian didn’t know how to awnser the question his father was asking. Barley had found the staff on the attic, not him. He was in his room when Barley decided to burst into his room all excited to show the object that he had found, along with the spell. They both knew that their mother had nothing with magic, so the only person the staff could possibly belong to was their father.

It apparently took their dad too long for an awnser, as he repeated the question, more intimidating. “Where, did, you, find, that?!” He asked again, stepping intimidatingly closer to his second son as he did.

“Dad, please calm down a bit-“ Barley said, trying to make his father a bit calmer, but he was cut off by Ian’s trembling awnser on the question.

“W-we found it at home, o-on the attic.” Fear consumed the 16 year old as he gave the awnser. He never thought that parents could or may treat their children like this. Or at least, that’s not how their mother treated them.

“And why arn’t we home...?” The older elve asked with a sharp tone in his voice, clearly sounding not so happy.

“S-something w-went wrong with c-casting the spell...” Ian almost couldn’t bring himself to tell what went wrong. Who knows how his dad might react.

“What went wrong...?” He was clearly running out of patience, and both brothers can feel it...

“T-the stone broke...”

That seems to trigger something in the older male elve, as Ian felt a slap hit his face. 

Time suddenly stopped in the younger brother’s head as he carefully went over the spot where he had been hit. Did his father just...hit him? He didn’t even seem to notice that his older brother was standing in front of him with his back turned, basically shielding him from their father. Shortly after, Ian could hear Barley yelling at their father for what he just did, but he couldn’t hear the sentences.

“Don’t you dare do that again!” The 19 year old yelled, absolutely furious of what his supposed father just did. But the father of two didn’t care, and gave a glare as response. “Just because Ian casted the spell, doesn’t mean it’s his fault the stone broke! If anything, it was more my fault!”

“And why could it be your fault? You can’t even wield magic!”

“Exactly! The spell was too much for Ian to handle, so I tried to help him!” Barley yelled out of defense of his younger brother. “That’s why the stone broke!” Barley still asks himself if that even makes sense, but it at least was the truth.

The father of two let out a sharp laugh, and then looked at Ian, who’s still trying to proces all of this. “So I guess he’s that useless.” With that sentence, every single peace of confidence had been destroyed in the 16 year old’s head, as tears formed into his eyes. Barley also couldn’t deal with this anymore.

“If you don’t have anything nice to say, then you can go!”

The man, who’s suppose to be one of the two most important figures in the brothers’ life, literally turned his back on his sons, and didn’t care for a second.

The awnser was crystal clear to Barley, before he gently led his younger brother to the van.

Ian couldn’t even look at the man anymore...

As both brothers where sitting in the front seats, Barley just started up and drove the van without even bothering putting on his seatbelt. He just wanted to get as far away from that man as possible.

Through the ride, Ian just stared out of the window, still trying to process what his father had said about and to him. Was that monster really their father?

Then it hit him. The quest was for nothing. That horrible time-pressure was for nothing. The agonizing stress was for nothing. Leaving their mother behind without a word was for nothing...

Everything they had to undergo was for nothing...

Ian let out a sniff after realizing that everything he and Barley had to do was for nothing. Then came the words that their father had said to him, and the tone how he said it...

And that’s when Ian started to cry. At this point, it was too much for him to handle.

Barley couldn’t even bring himself to say anything. After all, it was his idea to go on this quest, to leave their mother behind and basically choosing their father over her.

“Ian, I’m...sorry...” he finally said, breaking the painful silence in the van. “If I had known he would act this way-“

“It’s not your fault...” Ian could barely say, his voice cracking and even a bit trembling as he did.

Right now, both brothers just want to burn a specific picture into the fire of the fireplace when they are home.


End file.
